Lakhs of students sit for second PUC exam in Karnataka

The second-year pre-university course (PUC) English paper examination in Karnataka was held on Thursday with social distancing and other safety norms, nearly three months after being postponed in March due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

An estimated 5.59 lakh students were slated to appear for the examination at over 1,000 thousand centres across the state.

Only the English paper was left out as the examination scheduled on March 23 could not be conducted in view of the coronavirus lockdown.

The department of pre-university education had issued the standard operating procedure for conducting the examination including sanitising the exam halls, the length of the benches, the number of students to be present in each room, thermal screening and usage of sanitisers and masks.

The Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Suresh Kumar visited a few schools in Bengaluru to take stock of the situation.

There were reports that social distancing was given a go-by at some centres in different parts of the state as the students, staff and parents huddled under the tin roofs due to heavy downpour.

(Representative Image, courtesy - PTI)